


In the Darkness of My Night, In the Brightness of My Day

by Chash



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Post-Season/Series 04
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-01
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-12-09 15:16:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11671710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chash/pseuds/Chash
Summary: Clarke always knew that when her friends on the Ark came back down, things would be different. They'd have six years together, six years she knew nothing about. She was ready for that.But she'd hoped Bellamy wouldn't have a girlfriend.





	In the Darkness of My Night, In the Brightness of My Day

The first thing Clarke hears from the ship is Bellamy saying, "Echo, you're with me. Everyone else, cover us."

"What do you think you're going to find?"

That's Raven, and the sound of their voices is even better than she imagined. Part of her wants to jump out now, to run to them, but she can see Bellamy now, and the sight of the gun in his hands reminds her to be cautious.

It would be such a waste, if after all these years she let Bellamy accidentally shoot her, thinking she was trying to attack him.

"If any animals survived, they might be in bad shape. And the people from the bunker might not know it's us," he says. "If I were them, I'd be on guard."

"How many ships do you think are coming down?" Murphy asks, and Clarke has to smile, just a little.

"Shut up and cover us. Echo?"

She sees him offer his hand, the way he helps her down, and some part of her heart twists with a total lack of surprise. She wasn't exactly _afraid_ of this, but she'd thought about it. She'd been acutely aware of the passage of time, not only because she missed her friends with a fierce longing that drove her half mad some days, but also because she couldn't help thinking about how things would be changing for them. She'd used the same kind of thoughts to punish herself, after Mount Weather. She left them behind, and she'd think about how all of them would be moving on without her, how they'd stop feeling the tear in their lives where she once was.

She told herself she wanted that, of course, but it was actually true this time. She doesn't want her friends to have spent six years talking about how much they missed her. She's moved on from her own dead too. That's what you do, with the dead.

Bellamy is looking around, wary, testing the air and checking the trees for animals. His finger isn't on the trigger, and she needs to figure out what to say to him. She needs to make her legs move. It would be nice, if her hesitance was just because she thought he might shoot her by accident. If she wasn't so nervous to see them all again.

When he relaxes the gun, she makes herself do it, stepping out from her cover with her hands up, unable to take her eyes off him.

"Don't shoot me," she says, and it feels like she should have had a better line prepared, but words have always been his specialty more than hers. She favors directness.

Echo's gun swings to her automatically, but Bellamy is frozen except for his eyes, which are roving over her. The gun drops from his hands, which seem to have stopped working, and his mouth moves for a few seconds without anything coming out.

It's Raven who says, "Holy shit, _Clarke_?" and she feels herself relax, after what feels like way too long.

"You're late," she says, mostly to Bellamy, and his own expression cracks open with joy.

"If we'd known you were waiting, we would have come down sooner," he says, and she grins too.

"I tried to tell you, but you weren't answering the radio, so--"

"Sorry." His eyes sweep over her once more, and then he looks around, searching the trees. "Just you?"

"No, not just me. There's--a lot to tell you."

"Screw that," says Raven. She and the rest of the group have climbed out of the ship, and Clarke takes them in. They've all dropped some weight, and they're paler, less exposed to direct sunlight. Monty's hair is shorter, and Murphy's longer.

Bellamy's the one she keeps returning to, of course, his own hair shaggy, his face worn from weariness. She can't get enough of the sight of him.

"We haven't seen you in six years," Raven goes on. "Get over here."

She laughs, goes down something of a receiving line. They're all so warm and solid, with the smell of the Ark lingering on them, metal and antiseptic, reminding her of being a child. For so long, this was all she knew.

She reaches Echo before Bellamy, and they both regard each other. The hug feels awkward; she barely knows the woman, and what she knew of her, she didn't much like. But she's a part of the group, now. She's been a part of the group for longer than Clarke was. They have long histories without her, and if she pitted herself against Echo, she'd probably lose. 

So she hugs her, quick, and Echo murmurs the polite, "I'm glad you made it."

"I'm glad you guys made it too," Clarke says, and it's true, of course.

And then she's at Bellamy.

She's had nights where all she dreamed of was being in his arms. His embrace is the safest place she's ever been, and her mind still associates it with security and happiness and warmth.

"Hi," he says, this soft, disbelieving word, and the only thing that stops her throwing herself at him is remembering Echo watching them. 

"Hi," she says, and makes herself step in, hug him like she's hugged everyone else, a quick, friendly acknowledgement that they're all still alive.

It doesn't work at all. As soon as his arms come around her, she feels herself melt, tension leaking out of her body as he holds her close, showing no signs that he's ever planning to let go.

"Clarke," he murmurs, so soft. "Fuck, I can't believe--I thought--"

"Me too." It's the first time she's admitted it; she told Madi first and then the miners that she was sure they'd survived, that they'd be back every day, but her confidence was flagging. "I thought you weren't coming back."

"I know." He noses her hair. "I'm so sorry."

She doesn't know how long they stay like that, his arms warm and firm around her, her face pressed into his neck, his shirt soaking up the tears that escape. It can't really be very long, but given she never wants to let go, the buzz of the radio on her hip is still an unwelcome interruption, startling her out of the safe bubble of him.

"Fuck," she says, because it's going to be Madi, of course. She's probably worried.

"Bad news?" Bellamy asks, eyes all concern, and her breath catches on a sudden, unwelcome surge of _want_. It's not a surprise, exactly; plenty of her dreams of his holding her didn't end with just an embrace, and it hadn't really surprised her. She was lonely, and he was her only touchstone.

But she can feel everyone else watching them, _Echo_ watching them, and she turns away, fumbling for the radio.

"No, just--another long story. Give me a second."

"Yeah. Let's get unloaded," he says, to the rest of them. "I assume none of us want to spend another night sleeping in the ship."

"Never again," says Emori, with feeling. 

Clarke feels their eyes on her as she turns away, feeling self-conscious about her need for privacy. It's not as if she doesn't trust them, but she doesn't know how to talk to Madi with all of them listening.

"I'm here," she tells the radio. "It's them."

"It is? All of them?"

"All of them. Seven survivors, and they're fine. They're grabbing their things and then I'll bring them back to you."

"Are they good?" Madi asks, her wariness crackling over the connection. "Are you happy?"

Bellamy is handing a bundle down to Echo, eyes flicking between her and Clarke, and Clarke's heart turns over. "Yeah," she says. It's more true than it isn't. "I'm happy."

*

"The nightblood kept me alive," she tells them as they walk. "And I wasn't the only one."

"Another nightblood?" Echo asks, voice sharp. She would care about that. "From what clan?"

"What does it matter?" asks Emori. "The commander cult will have died in the ground. Leave it dead."

"There will always be believers. A born nightblood--"

Bellamy holds his hand up, and Echo goes quiet. "How old is she?"

"Ten."

"Then it doesn't matter," he tells Echo. "Whatever clan she had, she's Clarke's now. And Skaikru won the conclave, so there's no change in power, right?"

"Your optimism is inspirational," Echo grumbles, and Bellamy smirks at her.

"I get that a lot."

Clarke makes herself watch, trying to get used to it. There's no proof, of course, of anything more than friendship between them, nothing so certain. But they're _close_ , and she can't help feeling as if they're closer than most of the others. He looks to Echo for his decisions, and whatever else he may look to her for, Clarke thinks of that as _her_ position.

"So, you had someone," Bellamy says, turning his attention back to Clarke. "You weren't alone."

"Not alone."

"And what's wrong with the bunker?" he asks.

"Buried. The building over it got destroyed, and we can't get in past the rubble. But now that Raven's here, I assume she can work up something to blow it clear."

"That's me: the bomb squad," she says, and Clarke smiles.

"It's not just Madi, either. Another ship came down before you."

"Another ship?" Monty asks. "What other ship?"

"A group of miners in cryosleep. I've been trying to get the settled in, but--it's tough."

"How?"

She huffs, feeling a little guilty. "I don't trust them. I don't like having strangers around, and I don't like being outnumbered. Especially with Madi. That's why I didn't bring her, I didn't want her to risk being out in the open. She'd be a good bargaining chip for them."

He nods, looking thoughtful. "How many of them are there?"

"A hundred."

"Our lucky number," he says, and she surprises herself by actually laughing.

"Is that what we're calling it?"

"Something like that. Once we get the bunker open, we'll outnumber them again. And maybe they'll want to be friends. Not everyone wants to kill you, Clarke," he adds, voice teasing.

"Just everyone so far."

He waits until she looks at him, and as soon as she does, she can't look away. His eyes are dark and deep and full of feeling, and she can't believe she's looking at him again, after so long.

"Not everyone," he tells her, and the relief of it is staggering. Allies, finally. _Friends_.

"No, not everyone."

*

She and Madi have been living in an old garage on the edge of the green land. It was built under a house, part of a small complex, the rest of which didn't survive. It doesn't feel like a home, but nowhere she's ever lived on Earth has ever really felt like a home, not like her parents' quarters in the Ark did. The garage is dry and clean and easy to defend, and she and Madi have been happy there. And there's enough room everyone will fit, even if it's a little snug. So for now, it's good.

Clarke knocks twice, quick, then once, and then twice more. Madi turns on the radio but doesn't say anything, just lets it crackle for a few seconds, and Clarke does the same. The door creaks up slowly, and then there's Madi, watching them with anxiety written all over her face.

"Delphi clan," Echo says, dismissive.

"Not your best first impression," says Murphy. "Which is saying something."

"Neither of you should talk to kids," Raven adds. She goes over to offer her hand to Madi. "You're Madi, right? Thanks for taking care of Clarke."

Madi worries her lip, but accepts the handshake. Her eyes drop to the brace on Raven's leg, and she nods. "I'm Madi. And you're Raven."

"That's me. You want to guess everyone else?"

It makes Clarke strangely self-conscious. Raven's easy, with the leg injury. But the others, she doesn't know about. Madi's eyes fix on Bellamy almost immediately, which doesn't help. Clarke knew she talked about him the most, but it hadn't occurred to her until right now that he was the only one who'd gotten much of a physical description. When Madi complained about freckling in the sun, Clarke said how Bellamy had freckles, and he wouldn't look the same without them. When she didn't want a haircut, Clarke told her about helping Bellamy with his messy curls. She doesn't know that she ever gave enough information about Monty and Murphy's looks for Madi to tell between them, let alone Emori and Echo.

"Harper," she says, slow, an easy one, since she's also Skaikru. "Emori, with the tattoos on her face. Echo. Monty, burned hands. Murphy." Her eyes settle on Bellamy again. "And Bellamy. The hundred-and-first."

He goes over to shake her hand too. "Nice to meet you. Sorry we took so long."

Madi shrugs, shy and clearly a little uncomfortable with all the people. 

Bellamy notices too, smiles and nods once. "Okay. Is there still stuff to hunt?" he asks Clarke. "Is it safe?"

"Some. And I don't know how safe it is, but we've been eating it and it hasn't killed us yet."

"I don't even care. Anything other than algae would be great now. Echo, Harper, Murphy, Emori, you guys come with me. I assume Clarke and Madi don't have enough to feed all of us for long. Let's see if we can find anything." His eyes flick back to Clarke, catch her again. She needs to relearn how to look at him. "Any warnings? Do you want to come?"

"I'll let you handle it. We'll get beds set up for you. A few bears survived, watch out for those. And make sure the miners don't follow you back, if you see them. They usually don't come back here, but--"

"We'll be careful." He hesitates for a moment, then touches her shoulder, briefly, like he's reminding himself she's there. "Back soon."

"Don't get lost."

"Earth skills," he says, with a smile that makes him look like _her_ Bellamy, boyish and teasing.

"I'm glad you guys kept up with your studies." She considers for a second, but takes her radio off her hip and offers it to him. She hasn't actually been without it for over six years, and letting it go seems as if it should be harder.

But she's giving it to Bellamy. 

"You got the knock, right?"

He nods, strapping the radio to his belt. "I got it. We'll call you if we need anything," he adds, to Madi, and her eyes snap up to his face. She knows Clarke's never given her radio up either.

It's going to be a big change for everyone.

Madi does settle down a little once it's down to just four people in the garage instead of nine. Raven and Monty do well with her, and Clarke can't help feeling like it's going to be a good thing, having more people around. Clarke's done fine, but with more of them, it's going to be better. Madi deserves a whole family, and she's glad to see her friends are ready for the job.

Given Madi's discomfort, Clarke thinks it's best to let her lead the conversation, so it's a while before she gets around to asking the question Clarke really wants answered.

"What was it like up there?"

Monty and Raven exchange a look that Clarke can't read, an event she assumes she'll get used to. Raven's the one to say, "We lived up there before, so it was--weird. Going back."

"It felt like we were moving backward, a little," Monty adds. "We were supposed to be done with the Ark, and then we were back up there. It never felt like where we were supposed to be."

"And it's tough with that many people," Raven adds.

Madi frowns. "How many?"

"It's just kind of awkward. With you guys, it was just the two of you. And I bet you got tired of each other sometimes."

"Sometimes," says Madi, flashing Clarke a smile that she returns.

"A couple times, yeah."

"It sucks not having anyone else, but--with seven people we got into kind of weird alliances. Everyone's always taking sides. Murphy and Emori against everyone, or Bellamy and Echo, or Monty and Harper. And me in the middle."

Monty rolls his eyes. "We didn't always pair off like that."

"Enough," says Raven. "Trust me, from my side--"

"I sided with you plenty of times. And Bellamy picked his own sides. Echo just went along with him."

"How was that?" Clarke lets herself ask. Her curiosity feels like a living thing. "Echo and Emori. Was it hard getting used to each other?"

Raven shrugs. "It took a little while, yeah. But Emori was with Murphy, and Echo and Bellamy, so--they figured out how to fit in. We bickered all the time, but that's just a few people and close quarters. We came out closer too." She seems to realize how what she's saying sounds, and she looks away. "Not--it's going to be a lot better down here."

"Yeah," says Clarke, with a somewhat weak smile. "So much better."

*

She's anxious until the knock comes on the door, and when Madi flips on her radio, Bellamy responds in kind, and then they open the door and he's there again, just as alive and real as before. They found a decent amount of food, and they can carry more than she and Madi can, so they won't have to go out as often, either. Its going to be nice. Plus, with cooking to do, Madi's shyness melts away. She's the one in charge of food preparation for the two of them, and Clarke can tell her friends are delighted by the way she takes control and bosses them around. Bellamy, especially, looks increasingly delighted as Madi gets used to him, and Clarke tries not to pay attention to that.

He and Echo are a matched pair, like Murphy and Emori and Monty and Harper. He can still be her best friend, but she can't be thinking of him as anything more. She has him back, and that's all that matters.

They eat on the blanket on the floor, as usual, even if there's barely enough room. Clarke sits next to Madi, and Bellamy takes her other side, determined, in his usual brotherly way, to get close to her. Madi's reluctance about him doesn't stand a chance, in the face of all that interest and care.

Which is good. She doesn't know what she would have done, if Madi didn't want anything to do with him. 

After dinner, they start getting ready for bed. Bellamy's the one to round up all of the Arkers to take them to the river to wash off, and from the look he gives her as he grabs the radio, he knows as well as she does that Madi needs some alone time with Clarke.

So at least she still knows how to read him. It really isn't that bad, aside from the twinge in her stomach when she sees the way Echo is always by his side. Which isn't even fair. She missed six years. Things are going to be different. She wouldn't change a thing, if she could. Everyone is alive, and she has Madi. She probably would have died without Clarke. And everyone on the Ark was fine too.

And now they're all together again. They're going to be good.

"How are you doing with all this?" she asks Madi, only half to distract herself from her thoughts. "I know it's a lot."

Madi shrugs. "Okay. How are you doing?"

Her impulse is to say _good_ , but Madi looks concerned, and Clarke realizes she probably looks more tired than she realized, more worn.

"It's a lot, like I said. I'm really happy to see them, but--it's been just the two of us for so long. And just the seven of them. I know they're still my friends, but they're kind of strangers too."

"Do you wish you went with them?"

"No," she says, without any hesitation. "I wouldn't give you up for anything. But--I wish they could have survived down here. I wish we'd all been together. All of us."

"That would have been nice," Madi agrees, and Clarke hugs her.

"We'll all be together now. And we'll get the bunker open, and--we'll have so many people, Madi."

"But I'll always have you first," she says. It's not a question.

"Yeah. You'll always be mine."

"Then I'm good," she says, and Clarke kisses her hair.

Bellamy tells her bedtime story, and once she falls asleep, he doesn't move away, just stays next to Clarke, watching Madi's steady breaths.

"I missed you," he admits. "I still can't--" His smile is crooked. "I was expecting to get back from the hunting trip and you'd be gone again. Or I would have been--I can't believe you're real."

"I thought you wouldn't come back," she says, with a small smile. "Something would happen. You'd get eaten by a bear." Her smile strengthens. "Honestly, I thought you might shoot me before you recognized me."

He laughs, leaning in close. She could kiss him right now. It wouldn't be hard, to just lean across the few inches between them.

But she's aware of everyone else, out of the corner of her eye. They're keeping their distance, giving them some privacy, but Echo and Monty keep glancing over.

It's not the only reason she can't kiss him, but it's a good thing to remember.

"I wouldn't have shot to kill," he teases, and she smiles too.

"Yeah, that makes me feel a lot better."

He catches his lip in his teeth, and the stupid desire surges again. She wants to know how he tastes. "Seriously, how was it? How did you--"

"It was hard," she says. "For everyone. But--we're going to be okay, right?"

He nods. "Yeah. We're going to be good."

*

They trade with the miners for some supplies, the kind of explosive material Clarke doesn't have access to. Bellamy and Echo take them hunting, and Clarke tries not to think about it. Echo seems like a good ally these days, all the things that made Clarke distrust her as Ice Nation turning her into someone they can rely on now. She's cunning and loyal and ruthless, but she cares about her people more than anything. And they're her people now, so her loyalty is with them.

And Bellamy seems to be a good influence on her. He seems to get her. They're good together. And since they're sleeping in the garage with no privacy, Clarke doesn't have to witness the two of them going off alone at night. They don't even sleep next to each other like Murphy and Emori. But Monty and Harper don't either, so that doesn't mean much.

At least, it doesn't until Monty kisses Miller.

It's about two weeks since the Ark came down, and ten days since they blew the bunker open. Clarke's spent most of the time with Bellamy, her mother, Octavia, Kane, Indra, and Echo, trying to formulate a plan for going forward. Unity is closer than it was before, but six years isn't very long to overcome generations of infighting, and there's the same competition as always for resources. They don't have enough clean ground for everyone to leave the bunker, but no one wants to stay there. The current compromise, with everyone still sleeping in there, is already falling apart, because it's not hard for people to slip away.

Building a society still isn't easy.

Clarke and Madi have been assigned one of the deserted rooms in the Skaikru section, and it doesn't help matters that Madi already hates it. Clarke wants to support the bunker plan, as it's the best one they have, but she hates forcing Madi under the ground.

So, if she's honest, she's looking for a distraction, and Monty and Miller present themselves.

She's with Raven, heading for a meeting to check out some of the hydroponics and figure out if they can use any of the machinery to expand the habitable surface of the planet, when they run headlong into Miller pressing Monty up against the wall for a desperate kiss.

Raven doesn't look fazed in the least, but she does kick Miller in the ankle.

"You have a room," she says, mild, when they startle apart.

"Shit," he says. His eyes flick between Monty, Clarke, and Raven. "I wasn't planning to do that."

"But Raven makes a good point," Monty says, tangling his fingers in Miller's and tugging. "We have a room."

"Aren't you supposed to be helping with this stupid meeting?" Raven asks, but she's grinning.

"Aren't you supposed to be my friends?" he shoots back. "I bet you can cover for me."

"Yeah, yeah," says Raven. "Have fun."

Clarke watches them go with some confusion, and then turns her attention back to Raven. "What was-- _what_?"

"What?"

"What about Harper?"

"What about her?"

"And Monty."

Raven looks totally confused for a second, and then all at once her face clears. "Oh, right! They were a thing."

"Were?"

"Yeah. It's been, like--fuck, five years since they broke up? Maybe longer. It was pretty early on. I'd be more worried about Bellamy, except we all know Bellamy doesn't give a shit."

"Bellamy?"

"He and Monty tried to make it work for a while. But even that was like--two years ago, maybe?"

"And then him and Echo after that?" She's trying to sound casual, but based on the look Raven shoots her, she doesn't really make it.

"Who, Bellamy?"

"Yeah."

"No." She considers, clucks her tongue once. "Look, aside from Emori and Murphy, I'm pretty sure all of us up there fucked everyone else at least once. It just kind of happened. But no one came out with a relationship except them."

"But you said Bellamy didn't give a shit about--" Clarke jerks her head in the direction Monty and Miller went, and Raven shakes her head. 

"Yeah. Nothing to do with Echo, Clarke. Honestly," she goes on, when Clarke doesn't know how to respond, "that explains a lot. I was wondering what happened with you."

Clarke's stomach is flipping over, some strange feeling between excitement and nausea. "Nothing happened, I just--he's been weird."

"He's Bellamy, he's always weird. But this one actually makes sense. You were trying to leave him and Echo alone."

It's not entirely true, but she noticed his habit of taking Echo places with him, and she picked it up. And she tried not to be alone with him herself, to avoid thinking about all the things she thought she couldn't have.

And he probably noticed, and he probably thought--

"Fuck," she says.

"He's been kind of a mopey disaster, honestly. I didn't know what the fuck to tell him. None of us could figure it out."

"The way you guys talked about them, it sounded like--"

"I forget we all take this stuff for granted," she says. "We just know they're not like that." A pause, and then she nods. "You know, if you and Monty both miss this meeting, we can just reschedule it, and I can take a nap."

Harper has Madi for the afternoon, and Bellamy's free. He should just be in his room, probably reading. Maybe with his sister. Either way, he should be findable, and he'll probably be happy to see her.

Clarke gives her a quick hug around the shoulders. "Yeah. Just tell them something came up."

*

Bellamy is in his room, and Echo's there too, and it's still somehow impossible to not feel like she's interrupting, like they want their privacy. But given all they seem to be doing is talking about hunting routes, there's nothing to feel bad about.

And when she knocks on the doorjamb, Bellamy looks up and grins, bright and warm. "Hey. I thought you had that hydroponics meeting."

"We took a vote and decided we didn't want to have it. Too many meetings. So I thought I'd hang out, but if you're busy--"

"I was just leaving," Echo says. It's the most obvious lie Clarke has ever heard, especially shameful from someone who used to be a spy, but Bellamy looks thrilled, and that's all she really cares about. "I'll see the two of you at dinner, I assume."

"Yeah, I assume so. Good luck with the hunting," Bellamy adds, and Echo rolls her eyes.

She closes the door on the way out, and Clarke realizes with a strange, giddy feeling that they were probably _all_ talking about her and Bellamy, that everyone else knew how he felt. It's still this odd little ache, knowing how the seven of them are together, knowing that she'll never be a part of that group, but at least they're all on her side.

It makes her feel better, even if she still has no idea what to say.

"Monty and Miller hooked up," is what she finally settles on.

He nods. "Yeah, I was hoping that was going to happen."

"I didn't know he and Harper broke up. I guess it was old news for you guys, but--"

"Oh." He rubs the back of his neck. "Yeah. I guess I thought it was kind of obvious."

"Apparently I have trouble reading your relationships. I thought you and Echo were, um--"

She can actually see the blood draining from his face as he puts it together, and she's laughing just as he starts to shake his head. "No, that's not--we're not--"

"I got that," she says, with a smile, and then she steps in, giving him a second to move away, but all he's doing is looking at her, face cautiously hopeful, and when she leans up, he closes the distance between them and kisses her.

Things happen very quickly after that, the kiss turning hot and desperate in seconds, Clarke pushing him back onto the bed, him pulling her shirt over her head, telling her how much he missed her and how much he loves her on practically every breath, her whole chest filling up with joy as she tells him the same thing. His hands mapping every inch of her skin, reverent, the two of them moving together, the perfect feel of him.

It's hard to really say anything is really worth waiting six years for, because six years is such a long time, and if she had her way, she wouldn't have had to wait. She would have have had him so much sooner. But it could have been ten years, or twenty, and she'd still be happy to have him. She'd still want this.

"I, uh--I really wasn't expecting that," he admits after, with a soft laugh. "Hoping, but--"

Clarke curls closer against him. "I thought you had a girlfriend."

"Thank fuck I didn't," he says, and she props herself up on his chest, cocking her head. "I felt weird enough when you came back and I was dating Gina, and I didn't even know I was in love with you back then. I don't want to think about--"

"Yeah," she says, leans down for another kiss, and the conversation falls to the wayside.

They have better things to do with their time, anyway.

Three days later, Echo picks it up, sitting down by Clarke at breakfast and greeting her with, "You thought Bellamy and I were together?"

"Why wouldn't I?" she asks, frowning. It's not as if it was implausible. It was a perfectly reasonable thing to assume, given the information she had.

"If we were, it wouldn't have lasted more than a day on the ground," she says, with a roll of her eyes like that should have been obvious. "Probably not more than an hour."

It's probably weird to be offended on behalf of Echo and Bellamy's hypothetical relationship, but three days in and he's a great boyfriend. Echo should be so lucky.

"Why not?" she demands.

"Because you're alive, obviously. It would have been over the second he saw you again. Whether he admitted it or not." She shrugs. "But I think this way worked out better for everyone. Much easier. Except possibly for you."

"Easy enough," Clarke says, biting back on her smile. "I can't complain."


End file.
